FET targets 7,000 4G base stations by end-2014

Taiwan’s Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET) is planning to deploy 3,000 4G base stations this year, with that figure rising to 7,000 over the next two years, the Digitimes reports, citing the operator’s executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer Maxwell Cheng. FET is now expected to launch commercial 4G services using 700MHz band spectrum in the third quarter of 2014, the executive added.

As previously reported by CommsUpdate, in December 2013 FET was said to have made an open call for tenders for the procurement of between 7,000 and 8,000 4G base transceiver stations (BTS), with Sweden’s Ericsson, Huawei of China and Finland-based Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) all named as possible bidders. FET acquired LTE-suitable spectrum in the 700MHz and 1800MHz bands following the state’s frequency auction which concluded in October 2013, and while it only intends to use the 700MHz band initially it was said that in its tender it was looking to acquire BTS capable of operating using both the 700MHz and 1800MHz frequencies.